<p>Probably a rhetorical question, but what’s the deal with choosing bagged leafy fresh romaine lettuce versus natural lettuce you have to cut apart yourself? Is there any advantage? Or am I just lazy? I don’t like cutting apart lettuce. It’s boring after a long day to cut apart natural lettuce. It has layers and you have to peel it. It also doesn’t already come in its own freshness-seal bag. You have to try to re-wrap the natural lettuce in that plastic wrap that won’t re-wrap easily. It’s just a hassle. And bagged leafy fresh romaine lettuce just seems to taste better when you don’t have to cut it apart before hand. </p>
<p>I grow my own.
Then you just pick what you need.</p>
<p>The only bagged lettuce I buy is spring mix, from time to time, for a change of pace. I always have romaine in the fridge I usually buy whole heads, unless it’s (occasionally) price advantageous to buy the romaine hearts (three to a bag). I have it down to a science with a large salad spinner for washing and drying the lettuce and a large tupperware box in the fridge with a never-ending supply of salad fixin’s – vidalia onion, red bell pepper, celery, carrots. Pull the box out and everything is there for a salad. I make my dressings right in bottom of the salad bowl. Add the stuff. Toss it with a big spoon.</p>
<p>This would be a good place to share your italian dressing recipe idad!
:)</p>
<p>You’re focused on the slicing? Just to complicate your life, there are purists who believe slicing lettuce with a metal blade shocks it. I’d guess that’s what distributors use. And those who believe the more cut edges, the more loss of moisture and whatever else. (Ha, my mom made us rip lettuce, just before using.) I’d bet you a salad google can update you. Btw, forget the plastic wrap and throw it in a storage bag. Or those 3 packs are resealable.</p>
<p>I sometimes slice it lengthwise, then cut from the top down. Toss it into the colander, rinse and go do something else. What I need to know, Idad, is how to keep cilantro and basil fresh. </p>
<p>I quit buying bagged lettuce a number of years ago when there was a big recall and a lot of people sick because of food contamination. The problem is with the processing – basically if one head of lettuce has e-coli contamination, the process of chopping and mixing in the factory spreads that all around so that contamination from one head can easily end up in a hundred different mixed salad bags. </p>
<p>So for me that outweighed the convenience factor, coupled with the fact that it’s generally a lot cheaper to buy greens fresh. </p>
<p>I live alone so I’ve started to gravitate to just using greens that tend to keep longer. Sometime I buy the lettuce is still alive & comes in the little plastic containers. I eat a lot more cabbage and kale these days because it just seems to last longer in the frig.</p>
<p>I recently started buying bagged salads. I can just grab a bag from the refrigerator in the morning, pop it in my lunch box and I have an instant lunch. (yes I eat the entire bag) I find myself eating a lot more salad. I will buy several different salad blends so I have a variety during the week. I used to rewash bagged salad or buy the individual ingredients and make my own but am willing to take the chance now for the convenience of a no hassle lunch. I leave for work at 4:45 am and just don’t want to be making a salad at that time of day. </p>
<p>lookingforward - keeping cilantro fresh is easy. Just put it in a glass with some water in it, and stick it in the fridge. Put a plastic bag over the top. Mine keeps fresh for weeks this way.</p>
<p>We either get the spring mix, or that nice artesian lettuce. No knives on lettuce…it browns the edges. </p>
<p>I prefer to buy natural lettuce, tear it up myself (by hand, no knives), and throw it in the crisper. It lasts for a week that way. Bagged lettuce has a funny taste and isn’t as crisp, I will eat it but I don’t prefer it. We buy the shredded for tacos sometimes but that’s about it.</p>
<p>I will say, I used to bring a salad for lunch every day with a mix of iceberg, romaine, and spinach. I spent like an hour every sunday with freezing cold wet hands tearing up lettuce to put in the crisper for the week. It was a huge pain. </p>
<p>I use to only buy natural greens and yes, no cutting with a knife. But I’m lazy now, empty nest and H often comes home very late from office, so I started buying greens in the plastic containers. It seems to stay fresh longer than bagged greens - in my frig a good 10 days or so. I am also more apt to just make a salad for dinner when no one is home but me. </p>
<p>I prefer heads of red leaf or romaine. Tearing up a few day’s worth for the salad spinner, and letting it crisp in the fridge prior to spinning produces the best tasting, best texture of lettuce, IMHO. A head lasts far longer than bags, which matters for those of us who live alone, and there is the possible contamination and cost factor of bagged lettuce. However, I do think for short notice, camping/travel use, bagged lettuce is a far better invention than sliced bread. I am a bigger fan of bagged spinach, to add handfuls to morning eggs, and many other dishes. </p>
<p>I think the bagged lettuce isn’t as fresh and goes soggy far far faster…but I buy it anyway since it’s so handy 
During early summer I grow and eat my own, but it bolts when it gets hot.</p>
<p>I grow some lettuce in the summer. Don’t have enough sun for it to do that well unfortunately. I buy bagged lettuce for the more interesting varieties frequently, but I agree that heads last much better and are crisper. </p>
<p>My friend gave me a growing salad for Christmas. You just trim it periodically to eat, water, put it in sunlight (and H admits add fertilizer). It lives in a pot on our front lawn and nicely supplements heads of lettuce I buy from the store. </p>
<p>I don’t like the taste of bagged lettuce. Also, I like my lettuce very thinly sliced, almost shredded so I do use a knife but only make enough salad to be eaten on the day so I don’t have any issues of bruised or brown lettuce.</p>
<p>DH grows lettuce, but for the 6 months/year that we have to buy it, we now buy leaf lettuce or romaine. We used to buy bagged lettuce, but it doesn’t last as long as a fresh head of lettuce. </p>
<p>I do grow my own lettuce in the summer, but for the majority of the year I have to buy store-bought.
I’m the only one in my house that eats lettuce and I find myself throwing away a majority of the lettuce if I buy a whole head because I just don’t eat it all in time. I buy the bags because there’s less waste for me that way.
I often buy the “salad in a bag” lettuce + other stuff combos for lunches. More expensive? Yeah, but I know myself and I’m too darn lazy to make a salad in the morning. </p>
<p>Hah. Throwing away lettuce is never a problem for me. A large head of Romaine makes two of my jumbo salads. I eat one at least five days a week – either for lunch for for dinner (rev’d up with some protein).</p>
<p>I tear it sometimes. Usually cut it up with a big butcher knife. It goes into the salad bowl and gets eating minutes laters, so bruising or browning from the knife isn’t an issue.</p>
<p>lookingforward - to keep basil fresh, put it in a cup of water on your kitchen counter. Don’t put it in the fridge, it hates the cold! If you keep it there long enough (10+ days) it may grow roots. </p>